Cisco: Taking businesses from the ground to the cloud
Ensuring you are getting a consistent operating model across all the clouds you’re using
The cloud is not a destination; cloud is an operating model. This is according to Tjerk Bijlsma, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Cisco’s cloud practice offerings for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia. He says while most people are familiar with the cloud for data storage, there is much more to it than this.
Cloud computing is generally defined as the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds carry the benefit of having functions distributed over multiple locations. “When we wrap our heads around the fact that a cloud is not a destination, then we can tap into its possibilities,” he explains.
This, he says, is where Cisco has a role to play: “We look at what set of capabilities, tools, products and solutions we can bring to market to help customers in South Africa who want to leverage the cloud to run or host applications that benefit their customers. We ask what we can do to make it easier and optimise functionality and client offerings.”
The cloud isn’t the abstract concept most people believe it to be. “We have public clouds, driven by the hyperscalers, but when it comes down to the basics, they are still physical data centres — you can actually drive up to where they are, and while they might be bigger, they still look and feel like your company’s own data centre,” he says. “It’s a building, possibly with a big fence around it, and it’s surrounded by cooling towers; you can drive up to the gate and ring the bell.” Suddenly, standing at the entrance of the building, the word “cloud” falls away. “That’s because the cloud isn’t this magical thing or this mythical place; it’s a term we use to describe how systems are operated, not where.”
The move to cloud-based operations is evident in the way companies are run today: “Five or 10 years ago, IT was in control, and the IT department would decide which infrastructure to purchase, which software to use and which applications to run; if a software team developed their own applications, it was IT that decided which programming language would be used and what tools should be employed. Everything was centrally controlled and delivered at a certain pace: if a company wanted to release an application ahead of a big holiday or special event, then planning would need to start at least six months in advance.”
But, he says, the world has changed, and businesses have had to change with it or risk being left behind. “The tables have turned, and now the biggest customer of the IT department is the software developers, who dictate what they need, how they want it delivered and when they require it. “If IT can’t deliver, then they will go elsewhere, because there are more than enough service providers who can comply.” This, he says, means that operating teams for applications, for infrastructure, and for security need to get aligned to this new, faster and more agile way of working.
Bijlsma says businesses are also employing more multi-cloud solutions: “The reality we’re seeing is that customers are selecting a primary cloud, which could be either private or public, but that doesn’t mean they are not using other clouds from other parties — either the hyperscalers or partners that are locally present in South Africa and have operational capabilities and hosting capabilities that add value by delivering what the customer deems relevant.”
In practice, he says, this could mean that developers have access to a certain cloud that has a set of functionalities that serve them, but that once production starts, the application is deployed on a different cloud that perhaps has better capabilities for data sovereignty and compliance reporting. If the application deals with sensitive information, for example a healthcare app, then the data might be hosted in a private environment with a local partner. “So now we start to distribute the application across multiple clouds; and there is no one-size-fits-all approach, because this is going to be application specific, customer specific and based on how the applications are deployed and the regulations interpreted within a specific market segment.”
Cisco, however, is not in the business of hosting customer applications. “Instead we are a cloudagnostic vendor that provides software solutions to ensure that customers have a consistent operating model across multiple clouds — a hybrid cloud, if you will,” he says.
“Agnostic software solutions means that operationally, it doesn’t matter where the application runs, it doesn’t matter which cloud you make use of; you will operate it in an identical way, because we provide that abstraction layer across multiple clouds.”
This, he says, is also true of security: instead of having cloud-specific security for each system, Cisco provides consistent security across the clouds. “It’s simple with security, he explains. “The more you see the more you can solve, so it makes sense to have a view across all the clouds and be able to address all the threats for all the different clouds in a consistent way.”
Multi-cloud security solutions have also improved, with the aim to make systems more user friendly and less of a chore to access. “From a security perspective, I get it; nobody likes security and nobody enjoys wasting time putting in complex passwords with 20 characters and symbols — especially not when these passwords need to be changed monthly,” he says. “That’s one of the reasons that the security of the future is passwordless and grounded in biometrics.”
Everyone knows that security is key, especially as more of the world goes digital, but people remain the weakest link in most secure systems. “The moment you have a password someone will be writing it down on a piece of paper to remember it,” Bijlsma laughs. “Ideally there would be single sign-on and no passwords to bother
with.” Improving the ease of access is one way to get employees to buy into necessary security measures; people invest in processes that save time and require less effort. “It’s all about striking the right balance,” he explains.
This, he adds, is extremely important and increasingly valuable for businesses. “The way we see our role is as a cloud-agnostic player that makes sure that you get the most out of all the clouds that you’re using.”
As simple as that sounds, this is no mean feat: “The amount of work that goes into building these platforms and increasing their ease of operations is tremendous. The amount of progress that has been made in just the past two or three years is truly amazing, and the acceleration of the development cycles — the things people don’t see happening behind the scenes — is mind-boggling.”
One more thing that Bijlsma and his teams at Cisco are incredibly excited about is sustainability: “In the near future we’re going to see companies make business decisions and build partnerships on the sustainability metrics that vendors provide. When it comes down to a choice between two clouds or two solutions, businesses are increasingly going to go with the one with more sustainable practises. They might be slightly more expensive, but if their sustainability is better,
then you would rather partner with that company. Sustainability is going to be a big driver and have an immense impact on how physical data centres are being built, how they are being cooled, the equipment that is being used and the lifecycle of that equipment. This is a heavy push that we’re seeing across the globe.”
Businesses may not see the value yet, says Bijlsma, but these companies then risk being left behind as the world changes. “Every business is going to have to make a choice where they weigh up the costs against the business relevance and the opportunities on offer,” he explains. “You need to see the value of the new tools that are out there, and how they enrich the entire business process and experience; the moment you can see that then the investment is really a no-brainer.”
He says the advancements in this space are something to get excited about. “Things are getting better, processes are getting faster, and we have better insights into how these infrastructures operate; this will give rise to self-healing networks.” This means that if an individual user is having a negative experience, the system can adjust and improve dynamically, with increasingly accurate predictions to preempt challenges that may arise.